The Evolution Of Programming & What The Future Holds | Holly Cummins In The Engineering Room Ep. 34

Dec 1, 2024

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In this episode of The Engineering Room, Dave Farley speaks with Holly Cummins, Senior Principal Software Engineer at Red Hat, about the evolving landscape of software development. They explore whether programming is getting harder, discussing how abstraction levels have changed while core problem-solving skills remain essential. Holly shares insights on AI's role in different programming contexts and the challenges of maintaining simplicity in modern software development.

The conversation covers platform design principles, mechanical sympathy in programming, and the surprising benefits of garbage collection in Java. Holly explains how her journey from physics to software engineering was driven by a natural inclination to turn problems into programming challenges.

They discuss the importance of fun and playfulness in software development teams as indicators of project health and creativity. The episode concludes with Holly explaining Quarkus, a Java framework that challenges traditional assumptions about runtime dynamics to deliver improved performance and developer experience.